by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

BALTIMORE -- Commissioner Bud Selig has spent the past 22 years charming, politicking and persuading Major League Baseball owners into historic decisions.

Now, five months before he is set to leave office, Selig sees chaos as the search for his successor reaches a critical juncture.

Owners are arguing with one another. The game's top executives are lobbying for power. And backroom deals are being brokered.

The mudslinging has become so vicious that Selig had to issue a gag order last weekend and insisted he is not feuding with anyone, least of all Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, his dear friend.

Forget the pennant races.

Baseball's greatest drama will be in Baltimore this week, but not at Camden Yards where the New York Yankees are playing the Baltimore Orioles. Instead, the owners will hold their quarterly meetings a few blocks away starting Wednesday morning with the intent of naming a new commissioner.

It has already turned into a three-ring circus among the finalists: Rob Manfred, MLB's chief operating officer; Tim Brosnan, MLB's executive vice president for business; and Tom Werner, chairman of the Boston Red Sox.

The 30 owners will cast their votes, with a candidate needing support from 23 to be anointed the new commissioner. If the owners can't reach that threshold -- a very real possibility judging by a survey of owners -- they will depart on their private planes Thursday with no decision on Selig's successor.

When it comes to bickering, Congress has nothing on these guys.

The Manfred camp, led by the New York Yankees and other big-market teams, says he has been assured of 20 votes. They argue Manfred is the perfect choice, maintaining the status quo for a sport that's projected to generate $9 billion this year. They point out Manfred, as head of labor negotiations, is responsible for 19 years of peace with the players union. He helped implement the toughest drug-testing program in American team sports. And he headed the Biogenesis investigation, bringing down Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and Tony Bosch, among others.

His opponents say baseball owners have the worst labor agreement in pro sports, and the only one without a salary cap. They say the bulk of the credit for the drug agreement goes to the players union for changing its stance. They remember Manfred's role in MLB approving billionaire Steve Cohen to bid on the Los Angeles Dodgers, a move that nearly blew up on the league when Cohen's hedge fund plead guilty to insider trading and agreed to pay a $1.2 billion fine. And they still are seething over Manfred's negotiated deal during the Dodgers' bankruptcy hearings that permits the team to protect all but $2 billion of their $8.35 billion TV contract from revenue sharing.

The Werner camp, led by the Red Sox and small-market teams, maintains he also has strong support: 11 votes, with eight still undecided.

They argue that Werner is the visionary that baseball needs. Werner and his partner, Marcy Carsey, created hit sitcoms such as "The Cosby Show," "Roseanne," "Third Rock From the Sun," and "That '70s Show." With his deep knowledge of the TV industry, Werner has the tools to pump life into baseball's sagging ratings. Baseball needs a fresh face, a new voice, they say, with attendance stagnant the past decade.

Werner's critics recall his disastrous four-year stint as the San Diego Padres owner -- a prelude to his successful run with the Red Sox. They ask how he can possibly be looking out for everyone's best interests when he has been tied to the Red Sox for the past 12 years. He's also the only candidate without a law degree. To opponents, he seems like nothing more than a prop to block Manfred's election.

The Brosnan camp is staying relatively quiet. His supporters believe Brosnan has unparalleled business acumen and is a stronger inside candidate than Manfred, but fear he doesn't have a realistic chance. If Brosnan can't generate enough votes in the first ballot, he will swing his support to Werner.

In fact, Brosnan and Werner could join forces, with Werner as commissioner and Brosnan as deputy commissioner.

If the 23 owners can't agree on a candidate after after several votes, the entire group will instruct the search committee to keep looking.

Maybe they can convince Richard C. Levin, the former president of Yale, to reconsider and become a candidate. Levin, one of seven people to meet with the search committee several weeks ago, made the cut based on his passionate presentation and was supposed to be the fourth candidate on the ballot, a person familiar with the process told USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because Selig wants the selection private to remain private. Yet, he pulled out.

Maybe they can sweet-talk Stephen Greenberg, the high-powered investment banker and the former deputy commissioner. Greenberg is highly popular among the owners, as well as Selig, but he told USA TODAY Sports he is not interested.

"It's fascinating because you have one side where the owners say, 'Don't rock the boat,'" former commissioner Fay Vincent told USA TODAY Sports. "And that side is Selig and Manfred. They're the boat. The other side is saying, 'It's time for change. We need to make improvements.' And that's the Werner side. We haven't seen anything like this, really, since Selig took over."

While Selig plans to stay quiet, he may have no choice but to pick a side if he believes his support would push Manfred or Werner across the finish line. Selig would be embarrassed, several owners close to him say, to leave town Thursday without a resolution.

The owners are scheduled to convene Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the candidates' hour-long presentations at 1:30 p.m. and a question-and-answer session. The owners are scheduled to break for dinner and catch the Yankees-Orioles- game, where the lobbying may be in full force.

The owners will meet again Thursday morning, divide into three groups of 10, and each candidate will have another Q&A briefing.

Finally the action will begin, with the owners sitting down and checking off one of the candidates in a secret vote. If no one is elected on the first ballot, they'll vote again. And again. They'll stop when they reach an inevitable conclusion: a stalemate.

Then it will be time for new candidates and back on the campaign trail.